Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure, for example, relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to selection or adjustment of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS).
Description of Related Art
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). A wireless network, for example a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), such as a Wi-Fi network (IEEE 802.11) may include an access point (AP) that may communicate with one or more stations (STAs) or mobile devices. The AP may be coupled to a network, such as the Internet, and enable a mobile device to communicate via the network (and/or communicate with other devices coupled to the access point).
As communications technology has evolved, faster PHY transmission rates are possible. For example, the use of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation techniques, enhanced modulation and coding schemes (MCSs), and the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas are among the examples of technology that have increased the physical layer transmission rates achievable by a communications channel. In addition to faster transmission rates, improvements in media access control (MAC) protocols have also increased throughput. In particular, reducing MAC protocol overhead has shown to improve throughput in communication systems. For example, frame aggregation is a process of arranging several MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) together into a single PHY transmission frame. Having fewer PHY transmission frames may be preferable in some communication systems that define a contention process between PHY frames, interframe spacing, or PHY transmission frame headers (e.g., PHY overhead).
An MCS may be selected using an algorithm for calculating goodput. The algorithm may assume that transmissions under various MCS each utilize a same amount of airtime for data transmission. However, this assumption may be inaccurate in some instances.